Ένα
ακόμη δείγμα της εφαρμογής της θελήσεως του ισχυροτέρου, όπως μας την
καθόρισε ο Θουκυδίδης. Εκείνη την εποχή στη θέση του ισχυρού ήταν η
Βυζαντινή αυτοκρατορία και ο επικεφαλής αυτής Βυζαντινός αυτοκράτωρ. Περασμένα μεγαλεία, όχι όμως για σπαραξικάρδιες διηγήσεις, αλλά για οδηγό προς το μέλλον. Την Ιστορία την κυβερνά το απρόβλεπτο, οπότε θα πρέπει να είμεθα έτοιμοι διά παν ενδεχόμενο. Όπως απωλέσαμε την οικουμενική πρωτοκαθεδρία, δεν αποκλείεται να την κατακτήσουμε ξανά. Αρκεί να έχουμε προνοήσει. Να βάλλουμε το μυαλό μας να δουλέψει ξανά ώστε να παράγουμε εκ νέου ισχύ και πολιτισμό. Η μεμψιμοιρία και η γκρίνια δεν μας ταιριάζουν` ούτε, επίσης, το αραλίκι και η δημοσιοϋπαλληλική νοοτροπία. Τιμή και δόξα λοιπόν στον Νικηφόρο Φωκά, ο οποίος τσαλαπάτησε την γερμανική υπεροψία.
Τα θέματα που συζητήθηκαν μεταξύ
Λιουτπράνδου και Βυζαντινών στην Κωνσταντινούπολη
Ο
Όθων ο Α’ κατόρθωσε περί τα μέσα του 10ου αιώνος να συνενώσει υπό το
σκήπτρο του την κεντρική Ευρώπη. Εμφανίζονταν ως συνεχιστής του Καρλομάγνου,
επιθυμώντας να ενώσει ολόκληρη τη Δυτική και Κεντρική Ευρώπη υπό τη γερμανική
επικυριαρχία. Με αυτό τον τρόπο επιχειρούσε να αποκαταστήσει τη δυτική αυτοκρατορία του
Καρλομάγνου που είχε διασπαστεί μετά το θάνατό του.
Όμως,
για να κατοχυρώσει τον τίτλο του θα έπρεπε να έχει την αναγνώριση του αυτοκράτορος του Βυζαντίου. Ακόμη
περισσότερο, αν κατάφερνε να συνδεθεί εξ αγχιστείας με τη βυζαντινή αυτοκρατορική
οικογένεια, τότε η αναγνώρισή του δεν θα επεδέχετο αμφισβητήσεως. Για τους
λόγους αυτούς αποφάσισε να στείλει στον τότε βυζαντινό αυτοκράτορα Νικηφόρο
Φωκά περί το 968 μία αντιπροσωπεία με επικεφαλής τον επίσκοπο της Κρεμώνας
Λιουτπράνδο, ο οποίος ήταν ελληνομαθής, πολύ καλός γνώστης του βυζαντινού
τρόπου ζωής και της εν γένει βυζαντινής κοσμοθέασης.
Το
θέμα που μονοπώλησε τις συζητήσεις ήταν η φύση του αυτοκρατορικού αξιώματος. Οι
αιτιάσεις των Βυζαντινών επικεντρώνονταν στη νομιμοποίηση της
Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ως τη Νέα Ρώμη, από τη στιγμή που μεταφέρθηκε εκεί η
πρωτεύουσα της ενιαίας Ρωμαϊκής αυτοκρατορίας από την Παλαιά Ρώμη με απόφαση
του Μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου. Κατά συνέπεια η Ανατολική Ρωμαϊκή αυτοκρατορία
αποτελεί πλέον τη μοναδική αυτοκρατορία. Η παραπάνω απάντηση των Βυζαντινών
διπλωματών στον Λιουτπράνδο εμπεριέχει μία επιδέξια μεταχείριση απέναντι στο
παπικό κατασκεύασμα της «Κωνσταντίνειας Δωρεάς».
Εδώ,
όμως, να σημειώσουμε ότι το ζήτημα της Κωνσταντινείου Δωρεάς ήταν μία κατασκευή
της Δυτικής Εκκλησίας που αποσκοπούσε αποκλειστικά και μόνον στην πρωτοκαθεδρία
της έναντι του πατριαρχείου της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Η χρησιμοποίηση αυτού του
επιχειρήματος από τους Βυζαντινούς με σκοπό να υποστηρίξουν την μοναδικότητα της
αυτοκρατορίας τους, μπορεί να τους έδινε το πλεονέκτημα έναντι του
Λιουτπράνδου, και κατ’ επέκταση έναντι του Όθωνος, δημιουργούσε όμως εκ νέου ερωτηματικά ως προς το αν το
Πατριαρχείο της Νέας Ρώμης (Κωνσταντινούπολης) εξακολουθούσε να έχει τα
πρωτεία.
Επανερχόμενοι,
τώρα, στην αντιπαράθεση των επιχειρημάτων εκατέρωθεν, οι βυζαντινοί
αντιπρόσωποι ισχυρίζονται ότι η Ρώμη τελεί υπό την κατάληψη των Λογγοβάρδων, οι οποίοι δεν είναι
Ρωμαίοι. Επίσης, οι ίδιοι, προσπαθώντας να προφυλάξουν το κύρος του
Πατριαρχείου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως (πιθανότατα να αντιλήφθηκαν ότι το
αντεπιχείρημά τους που στηρίχθηκε στην Κωνσταντίνειο Δωρεά υποβίβαζε την
Ανατολική Εκκλησία), προτάσσουν τη μεγάλη παράδοση της Εκκλησίας τους που έχει
συγκαλέσει και τις επτά οικουμενικές συνόδους με την εντολή του βυζαντινού
αυτοκράτορα. Θεωρούν, δηλαδή, ότι οι δυτικοί είναι νέοι στη χριστιανική πίστη
και στερούνται του απαραίτητου βάθους στην χριστιανική παράδοση. Τέλος, η
ερμηνεία που δίδουν σε ορισμένα προφητικά κείμενα, που κυκλοφορούσαν εκείνη την
εποχή, προεξοφλεί την τελική επικράτηση του Βυζαντινού αυτοκράτορα.
Ο
Λιουτπράνδος, από την πλευρά του, αντέταξε στη βυζαντινή αυτοκρατορική ιδέα το
αυτοκρατορικό καθήκον της προστασίας της πρώτης τη τάξει Εκκλησίας –όπως
ισχυρίζονταν οι Παπικοί- εκείνης της Ρώμης. Θεωρούσε ότι ο Όθων ήταν εκείνος ο
οποίος εξεπλήρωσε στο ακέραιο την αποστολή του, όταν ζήτησε την αρωγή του ο
Πάπας, σε αντίθεση με τους Βυζαντινούς αυτοκράτορες, οι οποίοι εδώ και πολύ
καιρό δεν εκπληρώνουν τις αυτοκρατορικές τους υποχρεώσεις. Κατά συνέπεια
θεωρούνται αυτοκράτορες μόνον κατ’ όνομα.
Επιπρόσθετα,
κατηγορεί το Βυζάντιο ότι δεν τηρεί τη ρωμαϊκή παράδοση (ήθη, έθιμα, λατινική
γλώσσα) και βρίσκεται μακριά από εκείνα τα οποία επιτάσσει αυτή. Ακόμη, το
γεγονός ότι δεν συγκαλούνται σύνοδοι στη Δύση αποδεικνύει ότι εκεί τηρούν τις
χριστιανικές διδαχές και δεν παρεκκλίνουν σε αιρετικά κηρύγματα. Επιπλέον, αντικρούει τις ερμηνείες των
Βυζαντινών σχετικά με τις προφητείες που κυκλοφορούν με το να υποστηρίζει ότι
αναφέρονται στην τελική νίκη του Δυτικού αυτοκράτορα (και όχι του βυζαντινού),
ο οποίος πρεσβεύει το Δίκαιο. Είναι χαρακτηριστικό ότι ο Λιουτπράνδος αποκαλεί
τον Όθωνα τον Α’ με το προσωνύμιο: Imperator Romanorum (Αυτοκράτωρ
Ρωμαίων), ενώ την ίδια στιγμή ονομάζει τον βυζαντινό αυτοκράτορα ως: Imperatore
Grecorum ή Argivorum (Αυτοκράτορα Ελλήνων ή Αργείων).
Αναφορικά,
τώρα, με την πρόθεση του Όθωνα να παντρέψει τον γιο του με βυζαντινή
πριγκίπισσα, ώστε να δώσει την απαραίτητη αίγλη στον τίτλο του, οι εκπρόσωποι
του Βυζαντίου είναι κάθετοι. Δεν συζητούν καν για έναν γάμο πορφυρογέννητης
πριγκίπισσας με έναν ρήγα (βασιλιά) της Δύσης.
Διαπιστώνουμε
λοιπόν ότι με το παραπάνω διαμορφούμενο κλίμα ήταν αδύνατο να υπάρξει σύγκλιση
απόψεων, έστω σε κάποια θέματα. Πολλώ δε μάλλον όταν ο Λιουτπράνδος επέλεξε,
τελικά, να υποστηρίξει την αυτοκρατορική ιδέα του Πάπα η οποία έρχονταν σε
ευθεία σύγκρουση με τη βυζαντινή αυτοκρατορική ιδέα. Αναμφίβολα με τη στάση του
αυτή δεν εξυπηρέτησε τα σχέδια του Όθωνα, για λογαριασμό του οποίου μετέβει
στην Κωνσταντινούπολη. Θεωρώ οξύμωρο το γεγονός ότι από τη στιγμή που έχει ως
αποστολή να εξασφαλίσει τη νομιμοποίηση της εξουσίας του Όθωνα από τον
βυζαντινό αυτοκράτορα, την ίδια στιγμή να επιχειρεί να τον υποβιβάσει. Ε, τότε
από ποιον να αποσπάσει ο Όθωνας την κατοχύρωσή του ως αυτοκράτορας στη Δύση; Από
έναν υποδεέστερο;
Τέλος, δεν θα πρέπει να μας διαφεύγει το αδιαμφισβήτητο γεγονός
ότι εκείνη την εποχή (επί Μακεδονικής Δυναστείας) η Βυζαντινή αυτοκρατορία
ανακτούσε συνεχώς ισχύ, οπότε μιλούσε σαφώς από θέση ισχύος και όχι αδυναμίας,
επομένως θα είχε έναν επιπλέον λόγο ο Λιουτπράνδος να είναι περισσότερο
προσεκτικός. Άλλωστε, η απάντηση του Νικηφόρου Φωκά στις προκλήσεις του
αναιδούς επισκόπου είναι αφοπλιστική, όπως ο ίδιος την περιγράφει στο περίφημο Relatio του που είναι ένα λιβελλογράφημα κατά των Βυζαντινών: «Εγώ ελέγχω τις θάλασσες και μπορώ να
επιτεθώ και να μετατρέψω σε στάχτες τις παράλιες και παραποτάμιες πόλεις του
βασιλιά σου, ξεσηκώνοντας τα έθνη εναντίον του.»
Ακολουθεί η αναφορά του Λιουτπράνδου. Το κείμενο είναι εις την Αγγλικήν:
Liutprand of Cremona: Report of his Mission to
Constantinople
Introduction [From Henderson translation]
Note:
We first hear of Liutprand at the court of Berengar and Willa, who, in the middle
of the tenth century, ruled over northern Italy. Becoming estranged from his
royal patrons he wrote against them the Antapodosis, or book of retribution,
which is one of our most valued historical sources for those times. In 963
Liutprand was envoy of Otto the Great to the shameless Pope John XII, and wrote
the only connected account which we have of the latter's condemnation and
deposition.
The journey to Constantinople took place in 968. Otto had, in his efforts
to bring Italy into his power, come into collision with the Greeks, who
regarded Benevento and Capua as belonging to the provinces of the Eastern
Empire. Otto went so far as to occupy Apulia and to besiege the Greek town of
Bari, but soon came to the conclusion that more was to be gained by
negotiations than by war. Liutprand, now Bishop of Cremona, advised peace, and
suggested that a Greek princess should be sought in marriage for the young
emperor Otto II, who had commenced to reign, conjointly with his father. It was
upon the princess Theophano that the hopes of the emperor were fixed, and it
was thought that Nicephorus would give Apulia and Calabria as her dowry. It was
to arrange this matter that Liutprand, accompanied by a large suite, went to
Constantinople. The reception that he met with will be explained in his own
words.
TEXT:
Liutprand bishop of the holy church of Cremona desires, wishes and prays
that the Ottos, the unconquerable emperors of the Romans, and the most glorious
Adelaide flourish, prosper and be triumphant.
1. Why it was that you did not receive my former letters or my envoy the
following explanation will make clear. On the day before the Nones of June
(June 4) we came to Constantinople, and there, as a mark of disrespect to yourselves,
being shamefully received, we were harshly and shamefully treated. We were shut
up in a palace large enough, indeed, but uncovered, neither keeping out the
cold nor warding off the heat. Armed soldiers were made to stand guard who were
to prevent all of my companions from going out and all others from coming in.
This dwelling, into which we alone who were shut up could pass, was so far
removed from the palace that our breath was taken away when we walked there--we
did not ride. To add to our calamity the Greek wine, on account of being mixed
with pitch, resin, and plaster was to us undrinkable. The house itself was
without water, nor could we even for money buy water to still our thirst. To
this great torment was added another torment--our warden namely, who cared for
our daily support. If one were to look for his like, not earth. but perhaps
hell, would furnish it; for he, like an inundating torrent, poured forth on us
whatever calamity, whatever plunder, whatever expense, whatever torment,
whatever misery he could invent.--Nor among a hundred and twenty days did a
single one pass without bringing us groaning and grief.
2. On the day before the Nones of June (June 4), as stated above, we
arrived at Constantinople before the Carian gate and waited with our horses, in
no slight rain, until the eleventh hour. But at the eleventh hour, Nicephorus,
not regarding us, who had been so distinguished by you as worthy to ride,
ordered us to approach; and we were led to the aforesaid hated, waterless, open
marble house. But on the eighth day before the Ides (June 6), on the Saturday
before Pentecost, I was led into the presence of his brother Leo, the marshal
of the court, and chancellor; and there we wearied ourselves out in a great
discussion concerning your imperial title. For he called you not emperor, which
is Basileus in his tongue, but, to insult you, Rex, which is king in ours. And
when I told him that the thing signified was the same although the terms used
to signify it, were different, he said that I had come not to make peace but to
excite discord; and thus angrily rising he received your letters, truly
insultingly, not in his own band, but through an interpreter. He was a man
commanding enough in person but feigning humility; whereon if a man lean, it will
go into his hand and pierce it..'
3. On the seventh day before the Ides (June 7), moreover, on the sacred day
- of Pentecost itself, in the palace which is called the crown hall, I was led
before Nicephorus--a monstrosity of a man, a pygmy, fat-headed and like a mole
as to the smallness of his eyes; disgusting with his short, broad, thick, and
half hoary beard; disgraced by a neck an inch long; very bristly through the
length and thickness of his hair; in color an Ethiopian; one whom it would not
be pleasant to meet in the middle of the night; with extensive belly, lean of
loin, very long of hip considering his short stature, small of shank,
proportionate as to his heels and feet; clad in a garment costly but too old,
and foul-smelling and faded through age; shod with Sicyonian shoes; bold of
tongue, a fox by nature, in perjury, and lying a Ulysses. Always my lords and
august emperors you seemed to me shapely, how much more shapely after this!
Always magnificent, how much more magnificent after this! Always powerful, how
much more powerful after this! Always gentle, how much more gentle henceforth!
Always full of virtues, how much fuller henceforth. At his left, not in a line
but far below, sat two petty emperors, once his masters, now his subjects. His discourse
began as follows:
4. "It would have been right for us, nay, we had wished to receive you
kindly and with honor; but the impiety of your master does not permit it since,
invading it as an enemy, he has claimed for himself Rome; has taken away, from
Berengar and Adalbert their kingdom, contrary to law and right; has slain some
of the Romans by the sword, others by hanging, depriving some of their eyes,
sending others into exile ; and has tried, moreover, to subject to himself by
slaughter or by flame cities of our empire. And, because his wicked endeavour
could not take effect, he now has sent you, the instigator and furtherer of
this wickedness, to act as a spy upon us while simulating peace."
5. I answered him: "My master did not by force or tyrannically invade
the city of Rome; but he freed it from a tyrant, nay, from the yoke of tyrants.
Did not the slaves of women rule over it; or, which is worse and more
disgraceful, harlots themselves? Your power, I fancy, or that of your
predecessors, who in name alone are called emperors of the Romans and are it
not in reality, was sleeping at that time. If they were powerful, if emperors
of the Romans, why did they permit Rome to be in the hands of harlots? Were not
some of them most holy popes banished, others so oppressed that they were not
able to have their daily supplies or the means of giving alms? Did not Adalbert
send scornful letters to the emperors Romanus and Constantine your
predecessors? Did he not plunder the churches of the most holy apostles? What
one of you emperors, led by zeal for God, took care to avenge so unworthy a
crime and to bring back the holy church to its proper conditions You neglected
it, my master did not neglect it. For, rising from the ends of the earth and
coming to Rome, he removed the impious and gave back to the vicars of the holy
apostles their power and all their honor, But afterwards those who had risen
against him and the lord pope, according to the decrees of the Roman emperors
Justinian, Valentinian, Theodosius and the others he slew, strangled, hung, and
sent into exile as violators of their oath, as sacrilegious men, as torturers
and plunderers of their lords the popes. Had he not done so he would have been
impious, unjust, cruel a tyrant. It is well known that Berengar and Adalbert,
becoming his vassals, had received the kingdom of Italy with a golden scepter
from his hand, and that they, taking an oath, promised fealty in the presence
of servants of yours who still live and are at present in this city. And
because, at the devil's instigation they perfidously violated this promise, he
justly deprived them as deserters and rebels against himself, of their kingdom.
You yourself would do the same to those who had been your subjects, and who
afterwards rebelled."
6. "But Adalbert's vassal," he said, "does not acknowledge
this". I answered him: "If he denies it one of my suite shall, at
your command, show by a duel tomorrow that it is so". "Well" he
said, "he may, as you say, have done this justly. Explain now why with war
and flame he attacked the boundaries of our empire. We were friends, and were
expecting, by means of a marriage, to enter into an indissoluble union".
7. "The Land", I answered, "which you say belongs to your
empire belongs, as the nationality and language of the people proves, to the
kingdom of Italy. The Lombards held it in their power, and Louis, the emperor
of the Lombards, or Franks, freed it from the hand of the Saracens, many of
them being cut down. But also Landolph, prince of Benevento and Capua, subjugated
and held it in his power for seven years. Nor would it until now have passed
from the yoke of his servitude or that of his successors, had not the emperor
Romanus, giving an immense sum of money, bought the friendship of our king
Hugo. And it was for this reason that he joined in a marriage to his nephew and
namesake the bastard daughter of this same king of ours, Hugo, And, as I see,
you ascribe it not to kindness but to weakness that, after acquiring Italy and
Rome, he left it to you for so many years. The bond of friendship, however,
which you did wish, as you say, to form through marriage, we look on as a wile
and a snare: you do demand a trace, which the condition of affairs neither
compels you to demand nor us to grant. But, in order that now all deceit may be
laid bare and the truth not be bidden, my master (Otto) has sent me to you, so
that if you are willing to give the daughter of the emperor Romanus and of the
empress Theophano to my master his son, Otto the august emperor, you may affirm
this to me with an oath; whereupon I will affirm by an oath that, in return for
such favors, he will observe and do to you this and this. But already my master
his given to you, as to his brother, the best pledge of his friendship in
restoring to you, by my intervention, at whose suggestion you declare this evil
to have been done, all Apulia which was subject to his sway. Of which thing
there are as many witnesses as there are inhabitants in all Apulia."
8. "The second hour," said Nicephorus, is already past. The
solemn procession to the church is about to take place. Let us now do what the
hour demands. At a convenient time we will reply to what you have said."
9. May nothing keep me from describing this procession, and my masters from
hearing about it! A numerous multitude of tradesmen and low-born persons,
collected at this festival to receive and to do honor to Nicephorus, occupied
both sides of the road from the palace to St. Sophia like walls, being
disfigured by quite thin little shields and wretched spears. And it served to
increase this disfigurement that the greater part of this same crowd in his
(Nicephorus') honor, had marched with bare feet. I believe that they thought in
this way better to adorn that holy procession. But also his nobles who passed
with him through the plebeian and barefoot multitude were clad in tunics which
were too large, and which were torn through too great age. It would have been
much more suitable had they marched in their everyday clothes. There was no one
whose grandfather had owned one of these garments when it was new. No one there
was adorned with gold, no one with gems, save Nicephorus alone, whom the
imperial adornments, bought and prepared for the persons of his ancestors,
rendered still more disgusting. By, your salvation, which is dearer to me than
my own, one precious garment of your nobles is worth a hundred of these, and
more too. I was led to this church procession and was placed on a raised place
next to the singers.
10. And as, like a creeping monster, he proceeded thither, the singers
cried out in adulation: "Behold the morning star approaches Eos rises; he
reflects in his glances the rays of the sun-he the pale death of the Saracens,
Nicephorus the ruler." And accordingly they sang: "Long life to the
ruler Nicephorus!" Adore him, you people, cherish him, bend the neck to
him alone! How much more truly, might they have sung: "Come, you burnt-out
coal, you fool; old woman in your walk, wood-devil in your look; you peasant,
you frequenter of foul places, you goatfoot, you horn-head, you double-limbed
one; bristly, -unruly, countrified, barbarian, harsh, hairy, a rebel, a
Cappadocian!" And so, inflated by those lying fools, he enters St. Sophia,
his masters the emperors following him ground. His armor-bearer, with an arrow
for a pen, from afar, and, with the kiss of peace, adoring him to the places in
the church the era which is in progress from the time when he began to reign,
and thus those who did not then exist learn what the era is.
11. On this same day he ordered me to be his guest. Not; thinking me
worthy, however, to be placed above any of his nobles, I sat in the fifteenth
place from him, and without a tablecloth. Not only did no one of my suite sit
at table, but not one of them saw even the house in which I was a guest. During
which disgusting and foul meal, which was washed down with oil after the
"manner of drunkards, and moistened also with a certain and other
exceedingly bad fish liquor, he asked me many questions concerning your power,
many concerning your dominions and your army. And when I had replied to him
consequently and truly, "You lie," he said, "the soldiers of
your master do not know how to ride, nor do they know how to fight on foot; the
size of their shields, the weight of their breast-plates, the length of their
swords, and the burden of their helms permits them to fight in neither one way
nor the other." Then he added, smiling: "their gluttony also impedes
them, for their God is their belly, their courage but wind, their bravery
drunkenness. Their fasting means dissolution, their sobriety panic. Nor has
your master a number of fleets on the sea. I alone have a force of navigators;
I will attack him with my ships, I will overrun his maritime cities with war,
and those which are near the rivers I will reduce to ashes. And how, I ask, can
he even on land resist we with his scanty forces? His son was there, his wife
was there, the Saxons, Swabians, Bavarians, were all with him: and if they did
not know enough and were unable to take one little city that resisted them, how
will they resist me when I come, I who am followed by as many troops as
"Gargara corn-ears have, or grape-shoots the island of Lesbos,
Stars in the sky are found, or waves in the billowy ocean."
When I wished to reply to him and to give forth an answer worthy of his
boasting, he did not permit me; but added as if to scoff at me: "You are
not Romans but Lombards." When he wished to speak further and was waving
his hand to impose silence upon me, I said in anger: "History, teaches
that the fratricide Romulus, from whom also the Romans are named, was born in
adultery; and that he made an asylum for himself in which he received insolvent
debtors, fugitive slaves, homicides, and those who were worthy of death for
their deeds. And he called to himself a certain number of such and called them
Romans. From such nobility those are descended whom you call world-rulers, that
is, emperors; whom we, namely the Lombards, Saxons, Franks, Lotharingians,
Bavarians, Swabians, Burgundians, so despise, that when angry, we can call our
enemies nothing more scornful than Roman-comprehending in this one thing, that
is in the name of the Romans, whatever there is of contemptibility, of
timidity, of avarice, of luxury, of lying: in a word, of viciousness. But
because you do maintain that we are unwarlike and ignorant of horsemanship, if
the sins of the Christians shall merit that you shall remain in this
hard-heartedness: the next battle will show what you are, and how warlike
we."
12. Nicephorus, exasperated by these words, commanded silence with his
hand, and bade that the long narrow table should be taken away, and that I
should return to my hated habitation--or, to speak more truly, my prison. There
after two days, as a result of vexation as well as of heat and thirst, I was
taken with a severe illness. And, indeed, there was not one of my companions
who, having drunk from the same cup of sorrow, did not fear that his last day
was approaching. Why should they not sicken, I ask, whose drink instead of the
best wine was brine; whose resting place was not bay, not straw, not even
earth, but hard marble; whose pillow was a stone, whose open house kept off
neither heat, nor showers, nor cold? Salvation itself, to use a common
expression, if it had poured itself out upon them could not have saved them.
Weakened therefore by my own tribulations and those of my companions, calling
my warden, or rather my persecutor, I brought it about, not by prayers alone
but through money, that he should carry my letter containing what follows, to
the brother of Nicephorus:
13. "To the coropalate and logothete of the palace, Leo- Bishop
Liutprand. If the most illustrious emperor thinks of granting the request on
account of which I have come, the suffering which I here endure shall not
exhaust my patience; only his lordship must be instructed by my letters and by
an envoy that I will not remain here without reason. But if the contrary be the
case, there is a transport ship of the Venetians here which is just about to
start. Let him permit me who am ill to embark, so that, if the time of my
dissolution be at hand, my native land may at least receive my corpse."
14. When he had read these lines he ordered me to come to him after four
days. There sat with him, according to their tradition, to discuss your affair
the wisest men, strong in Attic eloquence: Basilius the chief chamberlain, the
chief state secretary, the chief master of the wardrobe and two other
officials, They began their discourse as follows: " Tell us, brother, why
you have taken the trouble to come hither." When I had told them that it
was on account of the marriage which was to be the ground for a lasting peace,
they said: "It is an unheard of thing that a daughter born in the purple
of an emperor born in the purple should be joined in marriage with strange
nations. But although you seek so high a favor, you shall receive -what you
wish, if you give what is right: Ravenna, namely, and Rome with all the
adjoining places which extend from thence to our possessions. But if you desire
friendship without the marriage, let your master permit Rome to be free; but
the princes, of Capua, namely, and Benevento, who were formerly slaves of our
empire and now are rebels, let him give over to their former subjection."
15. I answered them: "You yourselves can not but know that my master
rules over Slavonian princes who are mightier than Peter king of the Bulgarians
who has wedded the daughter of the emperor Christophorus." "But
Christophorus," they said, " was not born in the purple."
16. But Rome, "I said, " which, as you exclaim, you wish to have
free, who does it serve, to whom does it pay tribute' ? Did it not formerly
serve harlots? And, while you were sleeping, nay, powerless, did not my master
the august emperor free it from so disgraceful a servitude? Constantine, the
august emperor who founded this city and called it after his name, as
world-ruler gave many gifts to the holy apostolic Roman church, not only in
Italy but in almost all the western kingdoms; also in the eastern and
southern-in Greece, namely, Judea, Persia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Egypt,
Libya: as his own privileges witness, which are preserved in our land. Now
whatever there is, in Italy and also in Saxony and Bavaria or in any, of the
dominions of m master, that belongs to the church of the blessed apostles: he
has conferred it on the vicar of those same most holy apostles. And may I deny
God if my master has retained from all of these a city, an estate, a vassal or
a serf - But why does your emperor not do the same? Why does he not restore to
the church of the apostles what lies in his kingdom; so that he may make it,
rich and free as it is by the labor and munificence of my master, still richer
and more free?
17. "But this," said the first chamberlain Basilius, "he
will do as soon as Rome and the Roman church shall be subordinated to his
will." "A certain man," I said, "having suffered much
injury from another, approached God with these words: `O Lord, avenge me upon
my adversary!' To whom the Lord said, `I will do it at the day when I shall
render unto each man according to his works!' `Alas,' said he, 'how late that
will be!'"
18. At which all except the emperor's brother shook with laughter. They
then ended the interview and ordered me to be led back to my hated abode, and
to be guarded with great care until the day, honored by all religious persons,
of the holy apostles. On this festal occasion the emperor commanded me--I was
very ill at the time--and also the Bulgarian envoys who had arrived the day before,
to meet him at the church of the holy apostles. And when after the garrulous
songs of praise (to Nicephorus) and the celebration of the mass we were invited
to table, he placed above me on our side of the table, which was long and
narrow, the envoy of the Bulgarians who was shorn in Hungarian fashion, girt
with a brazen chain, and as it seemed to me, a catechumen; plainly in scorn of
yourselves my august masters. On your behalf I was despised, rejected and
scorned. But I thank the Lord Jesus Christ whom you serve with your whole soul
that I have been considered worthy to suffer contumely for your sakes. However,
my masters, not considering myself but yourselves to be insulted, I left the
table. And as I was about indignantly to go away, Leo the marshal of the court
and brother of the emperor, and Simeon the chief state secretary came up to me
from behind, barking out at me this: "When Peter the king of the
Bulgarians married the daughter of Christophorus articles were mutually drawn
up and confirmed with an oath to the effect that with us the envoys of the
Bulgarians should be preferred, honored and cherished above the envoys of all
other nations. That envoy of the Bulgarians although, as you say and as is
true, he is shorn, unwashed and girt with a brazen chain, is nevertheless a
patrician; and we decree and judge that it would not be right to give a bishop,
especially a Frankish one, the, preference over him. And since we know that you
do consider this unseemly, we will not now, as you do expect, allow you to
return to your quarters, but shall oblige you to take food in a separate
apartment with the servants of the emperor.
19. On account of the incomparable grief in my heart I made no reply to
them, but did what they had ordered; judging that table not a suitable place
where--I will not say to me, that is, the bishop Liutprand, but to your
envoy--an envoy of the Bulgarians is preferred. But the sacred emperor soothed
my grief through a great gift, sending to me from among his most delicate
dishes a fat goat, of which he himself had partaken, deliciously (?) stuffed
with garlic, onions and leeks; steeped in fish sauce: a dish which I could have
wished just then to be upon your table, so that you who do not believe the
delicacies of the sacred emperor to be desirable, should at length become
believers at this sight!
20. When eight days had passed and the Bulgarians had already departed,
thinking that I thought very highly of his table he compelled me, ill as I was,
to dine with him in the same place. There was present also, with many bishops,
the patriarch; in whose presence he asked me many questions concerning the Holy
Scriptures; which, the divine Spirit inspiring me, I expounded with elegance,
And at last, in order to make merry over you, he asked me what synods we
recognized. When I bad mentioned to him Nicea, Chalcedon, Ephesus, Carthage,
Ancyra, Constantinople, -"Ha, Ha, Ha," said he, "you have
forgotten to mention Saxony, and, if you ask us why our books do not contain
it, I answer that your beliefs are too young and have not you been able to
reach us."
21. I answered: "That member of the body where the infirmity has its
seat must be burned with the burning iron. All heresies have emanated from you,
have flourished among you; by us, that is by the western nations they have been
here strangled, here put an end to. A Roman or a Pavian synod, although they
often took place, I do not count them. A Roman clerk, indeed, afterwards the
universal pope Gregory who is called by you Dialogus, freed Eutychius the
heretical patriarch of Constantinople from his heresy. This same Eutychius
said, nor did he only say but taught, proclaimed and kept writing, that we
would assume at the Resurrection not the true flesh which we have here, but a
certain fantastic flesh. The book containing this error was, in an orthodox
manner, burned by Gregory. Ennodius, moreover, bishop of Pavia, was, on account
of a certain other heresy, sent here, that is to Constantinople, by the Roman
patriarch. He repressed it, and restored the orthodox catholic teaching.-The
race of the Saxons, from the time when it received the holy baptism and the
knowledge of God, has been spotted by no heresy which would have rendered a
synod necessary of an error which did not exist. Since for the correction of an
error which did not exist. Since you declare the faith of the Saxons to be
young, I am willing also to affirm the same; for always the faith of Christ is
young and not if with those, those whose works second their faith. Faith is
there not young but old where works do not accompany it; but faith is scorned,
as it were, for its age, like a worn out garment. But I knew for certain of one
synod that was held in Saxony in which it was decreed and confirmed that it was
more fitting to fight with the sword than with the open, and better to submit
to death than to turn one's back to the enemy. Your own arm has experienced the
truth of this," in my heart I said "And may they (the Saxons) soon
have occasion to show how warlike they are!"
ΚΤΗΣΙΒΙΟΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕΥΣ
